Carbon arc incinerator



March 1965 J. E. MENRATH ETAL 7 CARBON ARC INCINERATOR 2 Sheets-Sheet 1Filed 'Oct. 8, 1962 INVENTORS JOSEPH E.MENRATH ERNEST J. LIDEENATTORNEYS March 16, 1965 J. E. MENRATH ETAL 3,173,388

CARBON ARC INCINERATOR 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 8, 1962 UniteclStates Patent C) 3,173,388 CARBON ARC INCINERATOR Joseph E. Menrath,P.0. Box 352 (191-197 School St.), Waynesvillc, Mo., and Ernest J.Lideen, '17 N. Wabash Ave., Chicago, Ill.

Filed Oct. 8, 1962, Ser. No. 228,919 6 Claims. (Cl. 110-8) Thisinvention relates to improvements in incinerators, land moreparticularly, to a unique incinerator apparatus especially for use inhospitals and the like in which the heat for incineration is supplied bymeans of a carbon arc.

One of the major problems in hospitals is the prevention of the spreadof disease within the hospital. The disposal of hospital waste firom thevarious hospital wards including surgery, is extremely important in theprevention of the spread of disease and the waste must be disposed ofcompletely, safely, efficiently and rapidly. It is an object of thisinvention to provide such a waste disposal incinemating apparatus whichis especially adapted to hospital use, although not limited thereto.

It is desirable that a waste disposal apparatus require a minimum ofattention for cleaning, emptying or the like. It is an object of thisinvention to provide such an apparatus which uses no flushing liquids orother additives, and which immediately disposes of waste ma terialwithout storage, which is self-cleaning in use and which requires noemptying service.

It is a further object of this invention to provide an apparatus whichincinerates wastes and reduces them to sterile and harmless gases andfly ash which may be discharged to the atmosphere, and in which theincineration is provided by the high temperature of a carbon arc, thusthe operation presents no fire hazard or danger to the user.

It is a further object of this invention to provide an incineratingapparatus for hospital wastes or the like, which is cyclical inoperation and is locked during an inciner-ating cycle which is automaticfollowing an initiating manual operation and which completes a disposalcycle in short time to make the apparatus avail-able for subsequent usewith minimum delay.

It is an additional object of this invention to provide a carbon .arcincinerator which is compact in size and will require a minimum ofservice connections, so that it is readily portable and adapted to avariety of installations, and which will be economical and practical tomanufacture and reliable in use.

Other objects of the invention will be pointed out in the followingdescription and claims and illustrated in the accompanying drawings,which disclose by way of example, the principle of the invention and thebest mode which has been contemplated of applying that principle.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the portable carbon arc incinerator ofthis invention.

FIGURE 2 is a sectional plan view with portions broken away for the sakeof clarity taken along line 2-2 of FIGURE 3.

FIGURE 3 is a longitudinal vertical sectional view taken along line 33of FIGURE 2.

FIGURE 4 is a transverse vertical sectional view taken along line 44 ofFIGURE 2.

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary sectional View taken along line 55 of FIGURE4.

FIGURE 6 is a detailed view taken along line 6-6 of FIGURE 5.

FIGURE 7 is a schematic view of the major components of the apparatuscombined with an electrical circui-t diagram showing the condition atthe start of a cycle.

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FIGURE 8 is a view similar to FIGURE 7 showing the condition of theapparatus after the cycle has started.

FIGURE 9 is a view of a portion of FIGURE 8 showing the condition of theelements at the completion of an incineration cycle.

In general, this invention concerns an incinerator especially adaptedfor hospital use in incinerating hospital wastes or the like. Theincinerator includes an incinerator crucible for receiving the wastesfrom a rotatable waste material feeding valve positioned above thecrucible and within a housing for the incinerator. The rotatable valvecyclically drops waste material into the crucible and an electric carbonare heating means quickly raises the temperature of the crucible highenough to incinerate the waste material while a motor driven fan moves astream of air over the waste mate-rial being incinerated in the cruciblefor combustion and for the disposal of the products of combustionthrough a vent. After rotating the valve to dump the waste in thecrucible the operation for a cycle of incineration is completelyautomatic and the valve is locked during the incineration cycle.

Referring now to the drawings for a detailed descrip tion of thepreferred embodiment, the entire incinerating apparatus 1Q may beportable as illustrated in FIGURE 1. The incinerator 10 may include asupport 12 comprising a base 14 and a pedestal 15, although of courseother suitable supports could be used. Electrical energy used forheating and moving air within the incinerator and for automaticallycontrolling the incinerator may be supplied through an electrical cord16 plugged into a suitable electrical outlet.

The incinerator is enclosed within a housing 18 which has a top opening20 for insert-ion of the waste material to be incinerated. Theincinerated products of combustion, which are mainly vapor and fly ash,are discharged through a flexible vent hose 22 which may be connected toany suitable chimney outlet as shown in FIGURE 1 for venting theharmless products of combustion to the atmosphere. The flexible venthose 22 may include a valve 23, e.g., a swinging check valve, which isnormally closed but which may be opened by the pres sure of an airstreamduring an incineration cycle.

A crucible holder 21 may be divided into two parts 24 and 25 and thebottom of the crucible holder may be suitably supported from the top ofthe pedestal 15. The crucible holder parts 24 and 25 enclose a crucible26 which is constructed of a suitable material capable of withstandingthe high temperatures of incineration. Below the crucible 26 there is anarc chamber 28 which may be closed at the bottom .by a plate 29. Alignedholes 30 and 31 in the crucible holder part 25 are provided leading intothe arc chamber 28 for access into the arc chamber of carbon arc sticks.

Above the top crucible holder part 25 is positioned and secured a rotaryvalve casing 32, encasing rotary valve 34 and also creating a path tothe valve from the top of the housing and from the valve 34 to thecrucible 26. The rotary valve 34 is constructed with a pair of valvepockets 36 and 37 capable of retaining waste material W to beincinerated, as shown for example in FIGURE 3. As the valve is rotatedthe waste material W will be dumped directly into the crucible 26 asshown in FIGURE 4 and the valve 34 will seal the crucible from the topof the apparatus.

For quickly and eliectively applying heat for incineration withoutcreating any fire hazard and any liquid or gaseous fuel fire, there isprovided a carbon arc heating assembly including a pair of carbon sticks38 and 39 held by adjustable holder 40 and 41 respectively. Holdersupports 42 and 43 are provided for holders 40 and 41 revcomponentsillustrated in FIGURES 7 and 8. include a relay coil 102 controlling arelay switch 103 i in series with switch 92, an incoming power line 1%consavages spectively. A carbon are feed mechanism 44- of a known andcommercially available type is adapted to provide the feed of the carbonsticks to maintain the arc and for sepa rating the carbon sticks tostart the are this known and commercially available feed mechanism 44includes the usual means to insulate the electrodes from one another andfrom the apparatus. This feed will be described somewhat more in detailbelow, however the specific carbon are feeding and heating mechanismsare not per se a part of this invention. For access to the carbon sticksfor changing, a pair of doors 46 and 47 may be provided in the housing18. Also, a drawer 49 containing additional carbon sticks may beincluded in the casing below the carbon arc feed mechanism 44.

At the time the waste material in crucible 26 is being incinerated, amotor driven fan assembly 4a is adapted to provide a stream of airacross the material to aid in combustion and after the waste material isburned, to sweep the products of combustion, fiy ash, smoke and vaporsout through the check valve 23 and flexible vent hose 22.- The motordriven fan assembly includes a fan 50 and a motor 52. An air inlet 54 isprovided through the bottom of the housing for outside air and also anair inlet 55 is provided from within the housing for cooling and towithdraw additional vapors into the air intake and discharge themthrough the vent 22. An air inlet header 56 leads from the fan at anangle to the crucible holder top part 24 which in :turn has a pluralityof holes 8 therein, FIGURE 2, to allow the stream of air to enter thecrucible chamber above the crucible and to sweep through the cruciblechamber and out through similar holes 59 in the other side of thecrucible holder 24. An air outlet header 6t? leads to the flexible vent22 from the opposite side of crucible holder 24.

For initiating an incineration cycle there is provided an operatinghandle 62 mounted on a bearing support 64 extending from the side ofhousing 18. The handle 62 includes a shaft 66 which mounts a spur gear68 on the end thereof within the housing. Spur gear 68 is in mesh with apinion 70, providing a 1:2 drive, for example,

and pinion 7% is secured to a stub shaft 72 rigid with rotary valve 34.At the other side of valve 34 a stub shaft 74 mounts a detent disc 76,see FIGURE 5. Detent disc 76 has a'pair of notches 77 and 78 thereinwhich are adapted to be contacted by a pawl 80 pivoted about pivot point82 and biased into engagement with detent disc '76 .by a spring $4. Asshown in FIGURE 5, a crank extension 86 of pawl 80 carries a rod 88having a flange 89 on the lower end thereof and this flange is adaptedto contact a switch actuator plate 90 upon movement of the pawl 80counter clockwise as viewed in FIGURE about pivot 82. Switch actuatorplate 0 controls switch contacts 92 of electrical switch 94. Also actingto control switch contacts 92, is a cycle timing cam 96, FIG- iURE 6,having a relief 97, therein. The switch actuating plate 90 has afollower 98 for dropping into relief )7, in

the timing cam 96. An adjustable speed timing motor 1% is provided fordriving the timing cam 96.

Within the portable apparatus in either the support or housing arepositioned the remainder of the electrical These trolled by an on-offswitch 1% and associated electrical conductors shown in FIGURES 7 and 8.An A.C. trans- I former 168 and a choke coil 110 are provided in thepower line. A carbon arc feed solenoid 112 and spring 114 as well as arack and pinion carbon arc feed arrangement 116 may all be containedwithin the carbon arc feed assembly 44.

A latching solenoid 118, shown in detail in FIGURE 5 is also provided.The solenoid 118 is for the purpose of latching the pawl 80 bycooperating with the head of the pawl and is normally in unlatchedposition as shown in FIGURE 7 but may move to the latched position shownsticks 38 and 39 and the arc is started.

i in FIGURE 9 when switch contacts 92 are closed, thus causing thesolenoid coil to draw down the solenoid armature 126, FIGURE 5, downagainst the bias of armature spring 122.

In order to control and contain the heat generated by the carbon aresuitable thermal insulation (not shown) would be provided within thehousing 18.

The operation of the incinerator will now be described, especially withregard to the components indicated schematically and the electricalcircuit of FIGURES 7, 8 and 9. FIGURE 7 shows the device in the startingposition when waste desired to be incinerated may be dumped into theupper pocket of rotary valve 34. In the starting position with powerswitch 106 closed, switch contacts 92 and relay contacts 103 are open,so that no power is applied to fan motor 52, timing motor 100, or to thecarbon arcs which are in contact.

When waste W is in the valve pocket, the manual starting handle 62 maybe rotated in either direction to start the cycle. As soon as it isrotated, gear 63 rotates gear 79 and this starts the valve 34 and thedetent disc 76 rotating. A slight rotation of the handle 62 will causethe pawl $4 to move out of notch 78 in detent disc 76, thus causing rod88 to pull up on switch actuator plate 90 and close switch contacts 92.With the power switch 196' crosed, current will pass through relay coil192 causingv relay contacts 1%?) to close and applying the AC. power totransformer 103 and to fan motor 52 while at the same time energizingthe latching solenoid 118 so that armature 12% will be pulled down butit will contact the top of pawl and will not hold the pawl from falling;back into a notch in detent disc 76. The condition at this time is asshown in FIGURE 8. The power through the secondary transformer 108operates the feed solenoid 112 for the carbon arc and the current flowsthrough choke 110 while the feed solenoid separates the carbon The rackand. pinion assembly 116 centralizes the carbon sticks and the spring114 biases the solenoid to return the carbon stickstogether at the endof an incineration cycle. At the same time the carbon arc has startedsupplying a very intense heat for incineration the fan 50 is blowing airacross the crucible 26. At this time the handle 62 has been rotated /3turn while the detent 76 has been rotated turn and the valve 34 has beenrotated turn as shown in FIG- URE 8. Continued rotation of the handlewill dump the waste W to be incinerated into the carbon are heatedcrucible 26 as shown in FIGURE 9 and incineration will take place inshort order while the products of combustion will be carried out by thestream of air from fan 50. After the handle has turned 90 and the detentis turned 180 thepawl it} engages the detent disc 76 and, for theremainder of the incineration cycle as shown in FIGURE 9, the magneticlatch holds the detent disc and hence the valve and handle to preventany further attempt to start another incineration cycle until the firstincineration cycle is complete.

All during the incineration cycle and after contacts: i2 were closed,the timing motor is running at a con trolled rate. The time required formotor 100 and for timing cam 96 to make one revolution while holdingswitch contacts 92 closed, is the time of an incineration cycle and maybe controlled by adjusting the speed of motor 100. After one revolution,the relieved portion 97 of cam 96 allows the contacts 92 to open andopening of contacts 92 allows the magnetic latch solenoid 118 to retractfrom behind the pawl 89 so that the pawl is again free to be forced outof its notch in detent disc 76 to again close contacts 92' and startanother cycle.

While there have been shown and described and pointed out fundamentalnovel features of the invention as applied to the preferred embodiment,it will be understood that various omissions and substitutions andchanges in the form and details of the device illustrated and in itsoperation may be made by those skilled in the art without departing fromthe spirit of the invention. It is the intention, therefore, to belimited only as indicated by the scope of the following claims.

We claim:

1. An incinerator comprising, an incinerator crucible capable ofwithstanding high temperatures, a waste material feeding valvepositioned above the crucible for feeding material to be incinerated andfor closing the crucible from above during incineration, an electric archeating means positioned adjacent but not inside a heating chamoerdefined by the valve and crucible for quickly raising the crucible to atemperature high enough to incinerate the waste material therein, andair moving means for moving a current of power driven air over thecrucible during incineration for combustion and to entrain the productsof combustion, and means synchronizing the operation of the feedingvalve, heating means, and power driven air moving means upon initiationof an incineration cycle.

2. An incinerator for hospital wastes or the like com prising, ahousing, an incinerator crucible capable of with standing hightemperatures supported within the housing, a rotatable waste materialfeeding valve position above the crucible and within the housing forcyclically feeding material to be incinerated and simultaneously closingthe crucible from above during incineration, an electric carbon archeating means positioned below the crucible Within the housing toquickly raise the crucible to a temperature high enough to incineratewaste material therein, a motor driven fan within the housing forblowing a stream of air across the crucible and below the valve duringthe incineration for combustion and to entrain the products ofcombustion, and a vent for disposing of the entrained waste products ofcombustion.

3. An incinerator as defined in claim 2 further comprising control meansfor cyclically operating the incinerator upon rotation of the rotaryfeeding valve for starting the carbon arc heating means and the motordriven fan for a predetermined timed incineration cycle.

4. An incinerator as defined in claim 2 further comprising a rotaryhandle for rotating the feeding valve and for initiating the automaticcycle of incineration, and locking means for locking the handle andvalve after the incineration cycle has been started and the wastematerial has been dumped into the crucible until the incineration cycleis completed.

5. An incinerator for hospital wastes and the like comprising, anincinerator crucible capable of withstanding high temperatures, a wastematerial feeding valve positioned above the crucible for feedingmaterial to be incinerated and for closing the crucible duringincineration, an electric carbon arc heating means positioned adjacentbut not inside a heating chamber defined by the crucible and feedingvalve for quickly raising the crucible to a temperature high enough toincinerate the waste material therein, and power driven air moving meansfor moving a current of air over the crucible during incineration forcombustion and to entrain the products of combustion, flexible ventmeans for disposing of the entrained products of combustion, andautomatic controls for starting the carbon arc heating means and powerdriven air moving means for a pretimed incineration cycle.

6. An incinerator for hospital wastes or the like comprising, a support,housing on the support, an incinerator crucible capable of withstandinghigh temperatures supported by the support within the housing, arotatable cylindrical waste material feeding valve positioned above thecrucible and within the housing for cyclically feeding material to beincinerated and simultaneously closing the crucible from above duringincineration, an electric carbon arc heating means positioned below thecrucible within the housing to quickly raise the crucible to atemperature high enough to incinerate waste material therein, a motordriven fan within the housing for blowing a stream of air across thecrucible and below the valve during the incineration for combustion andto entrain the products of combustion, a flexible vent with a normallyclosed valve openable with the stream of air from the fan for disposingof .the entrained waste products of combustion, automatic control meansfor cyclically operating the incinerator when the rotary feeding valveis manually operated for starting the carbon arc heating means and themotor driven fan for a predetermined timed incineration cycle, a handlefor operating the feed valve and initiating the automatic control means,and solenoid locking means for locking the handle and valve after theincineration cycle has been started and until the incineration cycle iscompleted.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 988,862 4/11Conley --8 1,293,141 2/19 McGary 4-131 2,194,490 3/40 Zimmerman 110172,543,708 2/51 Rice et al 132O X 2,693,774 11/54 Knowles 2192612,763,760 9/56 Buckle 110-8 RICHARD M. WOOD, Primary Examiner.

1. AN INCINERATOR COMPRISING, AN INCINERATOR CRUCIBLE CAPABLE OFWITHSTANDING HIGH TEMPERATURES, A WASTE MATERIAL FEEDING VALVEPOSITIONED ABOVE THE CRUCIBLE FOR FEEDING MATERIAL TO BE INCINERATED ANDFOR CLOSING THE CRUCIBLE FROM ABOVE DURING INCINERATION, AN ELECTRIC ARCHEATING MEANS POSITIONED ADJACENT BUT NOT INSIDE A HEATING CHAMBERDEFINED BY THE VALVE AND CRUCIBLE FOR QUICKLY RAISING THE CRUCIBLE TO ATEMPERATURE HIGH ENOUGH TO INCINERATE THE WASTE MATERIAL THEREIN, ANDAIR MOVING MEANS FOR MOVING A CURRENT OF POWER DRIVEN AIR OVER THECRUCIBLE DURING INCINERATION FOR COMBUSTION AND TO ENTRAIN THE PRODUCTSOF COMBUSTIONS, AND MEANS SYNCHRONIZING THE OPERATION OF THE FEEDINGVALVE, HEATING MEANS, AND POWER DRIVEN AIR MOVING MEANS UPON INITIATIONOF AN INCINERATION CYCLE.